Pages

Monday, April 8, 2013

Mormons Be Like, "Progress!"

“Wait…women weren’t allowed to pray before??”

This was my first reaction upon reading that Jean A.
Stevens, first counselor in the Primary presidency, gave the first prayer ever given
by a woman at a worldwide Mormon meeting during Saturday’s General Conference
session.

(Reason why I’m not a good Mormon: I’ve never watched a
televised General Conference event. Ever. In years past, I’d read the talks
online or in print if I perhaps was interested in any of them. Otherwise, I’ve
never participated in General Conference.)

Women have been able to pray during regular, local Sunday
services for as long as I’ve been alive. And truth be told, women’s prayers
often captured my attention and spirit better than their male counterparts. I
was baffled as to how a woman had never before prayed in a General Conference
before. Welcome to 1925, y’all.

As per usual, the drama started while reading my Facebook
newsfeed, blown up with news of the “first prayer by a woman at Mormon
conference.” The response was an overwhelming “yay progress!,” to which I
groaned.

In an email quoted by The Salt Like Tribune , Kristine Haglund, editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought,
offered an explanation as to why women had never before been invited to pray at
worldwide Church meetings:

"It was the unintended consequence of the
institutional systematization of patriarchy.”

And it was Steven’s prayer that uncovered the existence of
patriarchy at an institutional level. A system that didn’t acknowledge the
capabilities and capacities of women to pray at worldwide meetings until 2013,
183 years after the Church was formed. And a system that is still in place,
despite a historical prayer this weekend.

A system where at the
same conference as the first woman’s prayer, talks were given that weren’t
so welcoming and loving. Some warned us against the “tolerance trap,” as it was
coined. Talks like these are especially harmful to members of LGBT Mormon
spaces, and do much to show how little progress is being made, and how the
institutionalized patriarchy is still operating at its finest.

I am glad that women are now able to pray in these spaces.
But it’s only one of many worthwhile causes Mormon feminists are working on.
These people are continuing to work on the causes pertinent to bringing about
substantial changes. A Facebook event the other week clued me in to a movement
of women nationwide to wear pants on a specified Sunday. Besides this, people
are working to challenge this patriarchy and other systemic issues limiting the
participation and equal treatment of fellow churchgoers. Some promote tolerance
and acceptance of women not complying with social expectations of marriage and
homemaking. Others are working towards the inclusion of their fellow members
who happen to identify as lesbian or gay. The Exponent illustrates the many issues Mormon feminists are working on and steps to take towards resolution.

I do not wish to downplay the
historical nature and significance of Sister Stevens’ prayer during General
Conference. I accept it as a long overdue change that needed to happen, and
hope it’s only a pit stop to real progress and adjustments of systemic and
institutionalized issues present. For me, progress runs deeper than putting a
woman on a pulpit and letting her speak. It’s making changes so that everyone
may be able to partake in worshipping their God, and eliminate fear for being accepted
or safe in religious spaces. That will
be progress worth tuning in for.